In honour of Pope Francis visiting Hungary, Magyar Posta is issuing a thematic personalised stamp. Five thousand copies of the stamp with a label have been produced. These will be available for sale from 27 April 2023 at Filaposta and Magyar Posta’s online store while stocks last.
Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus, born: Jorge Mario Bergoglio; Buenos Aires, 17 December 1936) is an Argentine theologian of Italian origin and, since March 2013, has been the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church. He was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Rome and Pope by the College of Cardinals on 13 March, and was inaugurated Pope during a Mass on 19 March. He succeeded to the papal throne following the resignation of Benedict XVI in February 2013. Pope Francis is the first Jesuit head of the Church, the first pope from the Americas and the southern hemisphere, and the first pope from outside Europe since Gregory III.
Before his election as pope, he was auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires from 1992 to 1997 and coadjutor archbishop until 1998. He subsequently became archbishop and, from 2001, cardinal. He was also ordinary for the Eastern Rites in Argentina for believers who do not have their own ordinary. At the end of 2013, Time magazine named him Man of the Year.
The Apostolic Nunciature of Hungary announced in a statement on 27 February 2023 that Pope Francis, accepting the invitation of the state and church authorities, would pay an apostolic visit to Hungary between 28 and 30 April 2023. The Holy Father’s visit is a highly important event not only for Catholics but for all Hungarians, both within the country and beyond its borders. The motto of the visit is “Christ is our future”.
Pope Francis visited Budapest for the first time on 12 September 2021, for the closing Mass of the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress. At the Museum of Fine Arts, he met President János Áder, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, members of the Episcopal College, representatives of the Ecumenical Council of Churches in Hungary, and the Jewish community of Hungary. He then greeted the crowd from the popemobile and celebrated Mass in Heroes’ Square.
